


Paradigm Shift

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Former Teenage Crush, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 06:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19419949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: After years of coming to terms with how misplaced his unrequited teenage crush on Damen probably was, Laurent finds that Damen starts actually paying attention to him after all. Laurent's not very good at dealing with the change. (Nor is Damen, for that matter.)





	Paradigm Shift

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a tumblr prompt and the "Are you jealous?" square of my Fluff Bingo card. Warning that there are vague references to canon-typical past sexual assault in the background, and recollections of some of the potential behavioural consequences and confusion that arises from that.

Laurent hadn't worked as hard as he had to get into the ridiculously competitive veterinarian science degree only to slack off and barely pass now that he was here. As a result, Laurent had a strict self-imposed schedule during weekdays. He had to take advantage of every available moment to study while Auguste was at work, because as much as he wanted to do well academically, Laurent also wanted to leave himself ample time to take advantage of Auguste being at home in the evenings and on weekends.

He felt like they were still making up for lost time in that respect. Maybe they always would be.

Since Laurent's classes finished in the mid-afternoon on Tuesdays, Laurent habitually went to buy a late lunch before heading to the library to study for a few hours. Other than the five minutes and forty seconds maximum it took him to bolt down the ridiculously bland food that was usually available for purchase (and yes, he'd timed it), Laurent's only other concession towards taking anything that could be deemed 'leisure time' were the few extra minutes it took him to travel the long way from his last class of the day to the food court. That led him via the vast expanses of rolling grass on the edge of campus, allowing Laurent to take a moment to quietly enjoy the… _scenery_. But even with that slight indulgence of a detour, Laurent was still always at the library by five minutes past three at the absolute latest, giving him nearly three whole hours of study before Auguste swung by to pick Laurent up on his way home from work. 

Today, however, Laurent was running a little behind schedule. And, as with most sources of annoyance in Laurent's life recently, it was entirely Damen's fault. 

As Laurent had been walking past, Damen had been, like most Tuesday afternoons (for he seemed to have a schedule of his own, even if it didn't seem to be as academically productive as Laurent's), sprawled out on the grass on a gently sloping hill taking in the afternoon sun. He was lucky that he wasn't anywhere near as prone to getting burnt as Laurent was, for today he was bare-chested with his shirt balled up behind his head, being used as a pillow instead of for its intended purpose. Laurent paused in his tracks to catch his breath for a moment. He'd power-walked from the door of his class to this point, after all. He deserved a few seconds' break.

Laurent still vividly remembered his first sight of Damen half-undressed like that. Laurent, at age sixteen, had first encountered Damen at the social rugby games Auguste had joined shortly after Auguste had returned home from deployment. Damen had been playing on the 'skins' team that night during a training session turned pick-up game. Laurent had spent the whole match dry-mouthed and red-faced, and had to expend ridiculous amounts of effort to suppress that same reaction every time Damen was in his vicinity for at least a month after that. 

But Damen had paid Laurent no real attention in turn, no matter how hard Laurent had tried. Laurent was nothing more than Auguste's younger brother to him. Which wasn't to say Damen treated him _poorly_ , but he certainly didn't afford Laurent the kind of regard that Laurent had thought at the time, stupidly, that he wanted. He didn't even seem to notice Laurent's less-than-subtle efforts to encourage his interest. Though Auguste _had_ noticed, and the conversation that had followed had resulted in Laurent shutting himself away in his bedroom for days on end in mingled mortification and frustration before he'd finally broken down crying against Auguste's shoulder and admitted how confused he was. 

So it had been for the best all around, in so many ways, that Damen hadn't even really seemed to notice Laurent much at the time. And it had certainly given Laurent time to start acknowledging that however perfect a physical specimen Damen might have been, he clearly had his faults in other areas. With his casual treatment of even those people who _did_ catch his eye, cycling through them seemingly weekly, surely he wasn't worth Laurent's ongoing interest anyway. 

And that should have been that.

Except then lately, over the past five months or so, since around the end of Laurent's first year attending the same university as Damen, Damen had suddenly started actively seeking Laurent out. A lot. Walking between classes. At lunch. Even offering to drive Laurent to uni in the mornings (on his motorcycle, with Laurent doubtless having to cling to him pressed flush against Damen's back, and yeah, that was _never_ going to happen). Laurent's whole class was convinced that Laurent was dating Damen, and only seemed to become surer of it the more vehemently Laurent denied that he would ever consider doing such a thing both to them and to Damen himself. 

And yet, even though he knew how pointless it was to expend any effort on someone whose interest in him would wane the minute Laurent actually indulged him, Laurent had found it increasingly difficult to just _ignore_ Damen's overtures. Which wasn't to say he responded _favourably_. But he still really shouldn't have bothered responding at all. He just couldn't help himself.

Like today, Laurent supposed he could have just kept walking when he saw an entire group of what were clearly first-year students sidled up to where Damen was lying to 'ask for directions', as if two months of classes wasn't long enough to get oriented. Laurent didn't have to take notice of the fact that Damen half propped himself up on his elbow so that he could better converse with them rather than just quickly sending them on their way. And Laurent definitely didn't need to drift close enough to them to overhear that 'directions' somehow apparently involved Damen plugging his number into one of the women's phones and telling her where she could find him on Instagram. 

An Instagram which Laurent had _definitely_ never looked up himself so that he could flip through literally thousands of pictures of Damen playing with his oversized husky, and on holiday to visit his extended family in Greece, and working up a sweat training for the charity half-marathon he'd apparently run last year. Nor had Laurent frenziedly scrolled past all the pictures of him with his flings-of-the-moment so that Laurent wouldn't have to look at them too closely. Of course not. Laurent was perfectly capable of controlling those kinds of urges.

Except, apparently, at times like now, when he definitely wasn't heeding the rational part of his mind that suggested that this was none of his business and he really didn't have to involve himself at all.

It was nothing he hadn't seen before. He knew how Damen was. He'd seen it play out again and again for three whole years. But Damen had just seemed _so_ disinterested this time, despite being so quick to give out a phone number that even Laurent didn't have (though he could have got it from Auguste's phone in a heartbeat if he'd _really_ wanted it, he supposed, for Auguste's passwords were always ridiculously easy for Laurent to guess). And the woman had conversely seemed so pleased. Laurent didn't like seeing Damen lead people on like that, even if that wasn't necessarily Damen's intention. It hit a little too close to home, even if Damen had never _actually_ done anything to make Laurent think he had any chance at the time. 

"Aren't first years a little young for you?" Laurent hadn't been able to stop himself from calling out once the women dispersed, practically giggling among themselves like high schoolers. Well, they _had_ been high schoolers just a year or two ago, most likely.

Upon hearing Laurent's voice, Damen immediately turned to him, sitting up straight and pushing his sunglasses up onto the top of his head so that he could look at Laurent properly (albeit with a slight squint against the shock of sunlight that was _very unattractive_ and not at all cute).

Damen pointed out, "You're a second year." 

"Precisely," said Laurent. "Still too young for you."

In retrospect, it had certainly been true just a few years ago, as Auguste had firmly insisted. Laurent wasn't entirely sure if that still applied, but he wasn't going to tell Damen that.

Damen frowned. "Do you think so?"

"Of course. You're ancient," Laurent declared.

Damen didn't seem pleased by that. 

"I only bothered to comment because I don't think you should be encouraging impressionable new students to waste their time flirting with you when they should be studying," Laurent went on.

"You're not studying right now either," pointed out Damen.

Laurent was actually glad for the reminder, and for the excuse to leave (not that he should have needed one). "Yes. But don't worry, I don't intend to waste any more of my time on you now that I've said my piece." 

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Damen said. "I saw you there before those women came up to me, you know. I see you every Tuesday. Why do you think I keep coming out here? I like the view. And I like _being_ the view."

Laurent had to carefully keep himself from reacting physically to the shock of the revelation that Damen had not only seemingly picked up on what Laurent had been doing, but had somehow miraculously managed to keep his mouth shut about it every time he'd spoken to Laurent up until now. Laurent hadn't realised Damen's mouth actually had a functioning filter. What was worse, though, was the realisation that while Damen had been watching Laurent from behind the shield of his sunglasses without Laurent knowing it, Laurent hadn't guarded himself at all. He hadn't been trying to hide the fact that he'd been watching Damen, and appreciatively at that. He hadn't thought to, for the idea that Damen might notice him and not make it immediately and painfully obvious that he'd done so hadn't even crossed Laurent's mind.

"You're imagining things," Laurent said awkwardly – and not at all convincingly, he knew – before stalking off.

Laurent rushed through his meal even more quickly than usual to make up for the time he'd allowed himself to be waylaid, but he still arrived at the library a few minutes later than he normally would have. And by the time he got there, his study room was already occupied. 

Everyone who habitually used this library knew that Group Study Room 4 belonged to Laurent between four and six on a Tuesday. Even if Laurent hadn't already been in a poor mood, this would have sent him fuming. And that was even before he stepped far enough into the room to actually get a proper look at the culprit.

He had his back to the door so that Laurent couldn't see his face. But Laurent couldn't rightly claim that he didn't still instantly recognise him even so. He had a… _striking_ silhouette. Laurent would probably recognise him from a hundred metres away in half-darkness.

At least he was wearing his shirt properly now, Laurent thought. Small mercies. Laurent hoped he'd ended up with grass stains on it for his troubles.

The most annoying part of finding Damen here like this was that he clearly had no intention of even _pretending_ that he meant to utilise the room for its intended purpose of studying. Instead, the brute was reclining so far back in his chair that it was a miracle his weight didn't topple it backwards. His legs were kicked up on the table. The sight of him practically desecrating library property, in what Laurent considered to be _his_ space, was galling.

If he'd wanted to spend his afternoon napping, Damen could have stayed exactly where he'd been. Being splayed out on the soft grass had to have been more comfortable than how he was sitting now. Not that Laurent thought for a moment that sleep or comfort in general was really why Damen had come to that room right then. It was too much of a coincidence. 

"This is my room," Laurent announced.

Damen didn't react. Maybe the music that was blaring through his headphones so that Laurent could hear it even from this distance (Damen was going to ruin his hearing at this rate… not that Laurent cared if he did) was so loud that he couldn't hear Laurent. But Laurent doubted he was unaware of Laurent's arrival even so. Laurent didn't doubt for a moment that Damen knew Laurent would be here. He certainly knew the rest of Laurent's schedule. Likely he'd just asked one of Laurent's classmates whether they knew where he could find Laurent. Laurent doubted that there was a single one of them who wouldn't have taken one look at Damen's self-effacing grin with that ridiculous dimple and answered literally _any_ question Damen felt like posing. The traitors. So he must have expected Laurent to turn up. He would have been waiting for him, keeping an eye out for his approach. 

Well, if he was going to pretend otherwise and wouldn't respond to being verbally addressed, Laurent didn't mind resorting to alternative methods.

"Ow," was Damen's reaction to the jarring pain that must have shot up his leg when Laurent unceremoniously knocked his foot off the desk (he shouldn't have had it on there in the first place, Laurent reasoned). Damen blinked his eyes open and looked almost surprised to see Laurent. Almost. He wasn't good enough at schooling his features to quite fool a practised liar of Laurent's calibre.

Laurent gave him a grand total of half a second to remove his headphones. Which was a completely generous stretch of time, if he did say so himself. When Damen didn't move to do so quickly enough, Laurent yanked them off his head. Laurent allowed himself the slightest of pleased smiles at the noise of discomfort Damen made at how the motion pulled at his ears, and probably at his frankly unruly curls as well.

"This study room is mine," Laurent repeated.

"It's the library's room, actually," Damen said. "Which makes it public space, not your personal possession."

"It's not public when I have it booked."

"Funny. There's no booking online."

So he'd thought this through far enough to check on that, had he? If Laurent had had any concept of this not being premeditated, that would have put an end to it. 

"Which means you didn't book it on there, either. And I think you'll find that I directly booked it with the librarians now, just before coming up here," Laurent said. That last part was a lie. It was always just commonly understood that this space was his during these particular hours. Laurent had never once bothered to book the room, because until now he'd never run into the kind of trouble that would make him think he should bother. 

And for that matter, it hadn't really seemed advisable to do so. Laurent's first instinct was still to avoid unnecessarily leaving electronic records of his movements that _someone_ could access and use against him. Granted that admittedly hadn't been a real concern for years now; not since Auguste had finally managed to win the fight of convincing the military that, yes actually, he _should_ still qualify for a hardship discharge to care for his younger brother after their parents' death even though they supposedly had a living uncle who was willing to 'care' for Laurent. But old habits died hard, as the saying went. As did old men, though Auguste had made Laurent swear to keep silent about _that_.

"If you really booked this place, then where's the record of it? Since I was here first, I'm not going anywhere unless you prove that I have less right to be here than you do."

If he thought that Laurent was going to back down that easily, then clearly he didn't know Laurent at all. And what did he expect even if Laurent were the type to cave? For Laurent to balk at being called out in a lie and leave the room to him since he'd arrived first? No, Laurent doubted that. As much as Laurent sometimes managed to convince himself that Damen existed purely to annoy him, he still very much doubted that Damen had come all the way to the library just to temporarily inconvenience Laurent and nothing more. 

"But alternatively… it's a large room, you know," Damen said, not very slyly. "Too large for one person, really. As I said, I got here first, so I'm not leaving. But I'm willing to share."

So he wanted to play it like that, did he? 

It wasn't quite late enough in the day that Laurent could be assured that another room would be free if he _did_ just give up on this one and try to move on. It would certainly take time for Laurent to go looking, or to look it up on online, and probably to no avail anyway. And then there was the principle of the thing; this was _Laurent's_ room. Damen was the intruder here. And he wasn't even _really_ using the room. So he should be the one who had to go.

"I need the whole space to myself," Laurent said. "I like to spread my books out all over the room." 

"I don't mind if you do that."

"And I read the important sections out loud. I'm told it's intolerable," Laurent said, which was another bald-faced lie.

Damen tapped his index finger against the headphones where Laurent had discarded them on the desk. "I could always just put these on. But I doubt I'd find it annoying anyway. I like your voice."

If a human being could stop the blood from rushing to their face by willpower alone, then Laurent was going to make it his mission in life to completely master that skill one day. He could feel the spreading heat of it now. He would just bet Damen could see the evidence as well.

"Do you really think you want to hear me talking about the more gruesome details of performing necropsies?" Laurent countered.

Damen shrugged. "My older brother spend years actively trying to put me off my dinner every night so that he could justify stealing the rest from me. I have a pretty strong stomach by this point."

"Well, you'll irritate me with your presence," Laurent tried.

"I promise not to. I won't say a word. I won't breathe too loud. I won't move," Damen said. "You could even turn your back to me if you like so that you don't have to look at me. You'd barely even notice I was here."

Even if that would work (which it decidedly wouldn't, Laurent knew), what would be in it for Damen to just sit there in silence while Laurent studied for two and a half hours? At best, he'd get to spend the whole time staring at the back of Laurent's head while Laurent quietly read his book and took notes. Surely from Damen's perspective that was hardly a more enjoyable use of time than working on his tan while half the student body drooled over his overtly-on-display muscles.

"Unless you find it too distracting to be this close to me for some _other_ reason, that is."

Oh. So that was why Damen was really here. He wanted to try to make Laurent admit that he couldn't concentrate around Damen no matter what. If Laurent kept insisting that Damen couldn't remain here now, then Damen would take it as confirmation of that, and of everything that it implied.

Laurent wasn't willing at this point to confess that Damen was right. That Damen took up the entirety of Laurent's attention whenever he was in Laurent's vicinity, and always had, even when Damen had seemed to look straight past Laurent as if he wasn't even there, and even when Laurent had been bitterly trying to come to terms with his own probably-misplaced-at-the-time feelings. That now that Damen had actually started to notice Laurent like that, and now that Laurent was actually old enough to consider doing something about it, Laurent had to keep actively reminding himself that there were about a hundred other people Damen probably looked at the exact same way so that he wouldn't fall back into that ridiculous childish hope. Maybe Damen hadn't looked at those women earlier anything like the way that he looked at Laurent, but that had obviously been because Damen had self-admittedly known that Laurent was there. He'd just been trying (and failing, of course) to make Laurent jealous. He hadn't been _actually_ flirting with them. But that didn't mean Damen didn't still have his eyes on any number of other potential flings who he was cosying up to away from Laurent's gaze. Laurent was only one of many. Or he _would_ be, if he were foolish enough to become part of that statistic.

Just because Damen was pursuing Laurent like this didn't mean he was actually _serious_ about it the way Laurent would need for him to be to even consider it. Laurent forcibly reminded himself as much. 

So he couldn't let Damen win this little battle and come away feeling like he'd confirmed his suspicions. But as far as saying 'please go so that I can study, already' in a way that Damen _wouldn't_ take as that kind of confirmation went, there was only one that might potentially work. 

"If you think that making me resent you for taking away my valuable study time is going to impress me, then I have no idea how you managed to convince the university to take you on as a post-graduate student with that clear lack of common sense. I _need_ this time to myself to study. Otherwise I'll have to do it at home, and it'll take away from the already limited time I get to spend with Auguste."

The former part was unnecessarily cruel. The latter was a little too truthful and revealing for Laurent's taste. But Damen hadn't left him with many choices.

Laurent still expected Damen to laugh it off as a joke, the way Laurent had seen him do with so many things, especially Laurent's so far mostly half-hearted efforts to send him away. Instead, entirely serious, Damen said, "You seriously do _want_ to study right now?"

"Of course I do. This is a library. I'm a student. What did you think I came here for?"

"I thought you were mostly just killing time while you were waiting until Auguste finished work."

Well, technically Laurent _was_ marking time until that, but he certainly wasn't wasting it, and he said so. 

Perhaps he'd been a little too sharp in doing so, for Damen said soberly, "Sorry, then. I… Yeah, never mind. I'll just go." 

Laurent felt like he'd seriously overstepped somehow, even though Damen was the one who had shown up here uninvited in the first place. He didn't know how to react to Damen legitimately apologising, or to him suddenly acting like Laurent had kicked that adorable dog that was with Damen in many of his definitely-never-saved-to-a-folder-on-Laurent's-phone-for-repeat-viewing Instagram photos. Damen had never seemed deterred like that by anything that Laurent had said before. But then, although Laurent had intimated that Damen was an inconvenience before, of course, in retrospect _he'd_ never had a particularly serious tone when he talked to Damen either. And Laurent supposed he'd never given Damen an actual _reason_ why Laurent wanted him to go away before either, because usually it was just because Laurent didn't want to risk embarrassing himself. And even now, that was most of the problem. Even though he'd been telling the truth about needing to study, he supposed a single afternoon off wouldn't kill him.

And the fact that Damen seemed genuinely deflated in a way that Laurent had never seen him before made Laurent feel strange.

"I'll see you at Auguste's practice on Thursday night, though?" Laurent found himself saying.

A relieved smile split over Damen's face. Right. That was better.

"Yeah. Cheer for me, won't you?"

Laurent made a face.

Even once Damen was gone, Laurent _still_ had trouble doing any real studying because his mind was now thoroughly elsewhere. But at least Damen wasn't there to witness that, and to make Laurent go flushed under his scrutiny, and to know exactly what it all meant.

Though Laurent thought he'd probably given himself away to Damen pretty thoroughly anyway.

Was he really considering allowing this to go in that direction after all, though? Laurent had thought he knew better now. That he knew _Damen_ too well for that to ever be a possibility to him. But…

Laurent recalled that smile, and how genuinely relieved Damen had seemed that Laurent wasn't trying to send Damen away permanently. Laurent had seen Damen look at all kinds of people dozens of different ways, but never like that before.

Laurent cursed himself as a fool. But yes. He was considering it.

**Author's Note:**

> These two need to stop acting like awkward weirdo stalkers and have a proper conversation for once, clearly. Honest communication, boys; it's a good thing. Though granted, I'm pretty sure Damen's been trying to have a straight-forward conversation for months now and Laurent's just been having none of it.


End file.
